The Braves have spent all season trying to patch together shortstop, and none of the stopgaps has really stuck. Ha-Seong Kim was signed, got hurt in the offseason, and has hit just .112 in 36 games.
Jorge Mateo came in after that injury, became a clubhouse favorite, but managed only a .240 average and a .380 slugging percentage in 34 starts before Atlanta moved on and brought Kim back. Jim Jarvis got a shot after tearing it up in Triple-A Gwinnett, only to settle at .207 with a .297 slugging before getting sent back down.
Mauricio Dubon has been the best of the group, but even he has only logged 42 games at short while also filling in 66 games in left field. Kim and Dubon are both free agents after the year, so the Braves are still staring at a future opening at a premium spot.
That’s where Alex Lodise enters the picture.
Atlanta took Lodise with the 60th pick in the 2025 MLB Draft after he won the Dick Howser Trophy, and he arrived with plenty of buzz as a top-5 prospect in the system. The first 62 games of his season didn’t live up to that billing.
Over 249 at-bats, he hit .242 with a .334 on-base percentage, a .372 slugging percentage and a .714 OPS. He had only eight home runs, seven doubles and a triple.
His extra-base hit rate sat at 6%, and he was striking out 31% of the time. The talent was obvious, but the swing-and-miss and the lack of impact were hard to ignore.
There were still the occasional reminders of why the Braves were so intrigued in the first place. Lodise could flash real pop, whether that meant sending a ball off the apartment complex in Augusta or driving one down the right-field line.
But those moments were too scattered, and the struggles got loud enough that social media started pushing trade rumors and tossing his name into mock deals. Meanwhile, prospects Tate Southisene and John Gil were putting together huge years, and Lodise looked like he might be losing ground.
Then came June 17.
That was the day Lodise seemed to change the conversation for good. He had been working on going the other way without giving up his pull-side power, and on that day he crushed a homer to left-center that landed halfway up the apartment building in Augusta.
From there, the numbers took off. In the same 249 at-bats, Lodise has hit .305 with a .379 on-base percentage, a .598 slugging percentage and a .977 OPS.
He’s added 17 doubles, one triple and 18 home runs.
The underlying changes are just as striking. His extra-base hit rate has jumped from 6% to 14%, and his strikeout rate has dropped from 31% to 21%.
He earned promotions to Rome and then Columbus, where he posted a 164 WRC+ in Rome while striking out only 7% of the time. Now with the Columbus Clingstones, he’s hit .320 from the No. 3 spot and has kept his strikeout rate at 20%.
The contact quality has changed, too. In 12 games with Columbus, Lodise has hit line drives 35% of the time.
He’s no longer living as a pull-only hitter either, pulling the ball just 25% of the time while going the other way 30% and back through the middle 45%. The result has been louder, cleaner contact and a season that looks nothing like the one he opened with.
His slugging is up 216 points, and his OPS is up 263 points.
Lodise’s case isn’t just about the bat. He brings 50-grade speed and a plus glove, even if the errors have piled up more than anyone would like this season.
When he has been in the infield with Southisene and Gil, Lodise has been lined up at shortstop. He has range, quick reactions, the ability to handle routine plays and enough athleticism to make difficult ones look ordinary.
His arm accuracy still needs work, but the arm strength is there, and his baseball IQ gives him a strong foundation as the competition gets tougher.
Atlanta’s shortstop picture is still unsettled, but Lodise has put himself squarely into the future conversation. The path to Atlanta is getting shorter. He’s moving fast.
In Other News...
Braves Send Clear Message With Midseries Pitching Shakeup
Amid the middle of their series with the Nationals, the Braves made a pitching swap that underscored how quickly they are trying to stabilize the staff. Blake Burkhalter was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett, while Elieser Hernndez was selected to the major league roster as Atlanta kept adjusting the mix around its bullpen and depth options.
Hayden Harris was designated for assignment to clear space on the 40-man roster, another sign the Braves are not waiting long to make changes when they see a need. Midseries moves like these usually say as much about the teams immediate priorities as the names involved, and Atlantas latest shuffle points to a club still searching for the right fit on the mound. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Prospect Eric Hartman Is Suddenly Forcing His Way Onto The Radar
MLB Pipelines latest All-Breakout team put a spotlight on a handful of minor leaguers who have gone from interesting names to real risers, and Eric Hartman is among them. For Braves followers, that kind of recognition matters because it signals a prospect who has not just held his own, but made a noticeable jump relative to where he stood entering the season, enough to draw national attention in a crowded system.
Hartmans inclusion places him alongside a broader group of players who have improved enough across their respective levels to change the way evaluators talk about them. The next question for Atlanta is how much of this surge translates once the calendar turns and the competition tightens, because breakout lists can announce a players arrival, but they do not answer how quickly he can become part of the clubs bigger-picture conversation. [Read more 🡒]
Braves-Nationals Delay Adds Uncertainty After Concerning Keibert Ruiz Scare
A tense moment unfolded in Washington when Nationals catcher Keibert Ruiz was forced out after a foul ball struck his mask, leaving him with a head injury and sending the game into an even more uneasy pause. Ruiz has dealt with recent head injuries tied to foul balls, so the decision to remove him was made as a precaution while the Braves waited through a weather delay.
The delay only added to the uncertainty, because there was no immediate update on Ruizs condition at the time of reporting. For Atlanta, the interruption came with the larger concern of watching a division opponents starting catcher leave the field after another scary incident, the kind of scene that tends to linger long after the rain clears. [Read more 🡒]